Polish organizers hope 1 million Catholics attend mass rosary

Event to mark Fatima centenary and pray for world's salvation

Organizers are hoping up to a million people will join a mass rosary on Poland’s border on Oct. 7 to mark the end of the Fatima centenary and pray for the world’s salvation.

Poland’s bishops have urged Catholics to join the rosary which marks the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary and the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where “the Christian fleet” saved Europe from “Islamization,” the Catholic Herald reported.

“We believe that if the rosary is prayed by about a million Poles along the borders of the country, it may not only change the course of events but open hearts of our compatriots to the grace of God,” the organizers say on their website.

The initiative has been backed by the Polish bishops’ conference which has encouraged Catholics to say the rosary in their homes if they can’t be present at the border event.

“Families may pray in their homes, the sick in hospitals, and parish communities in their churches,” they said.

“A hundred years ago, Mary gave these three Portuguese children a message of salvation: repent, give reparation for sins against my Immaculate Heart, and pray the rosary,” the bishops added.